1. Technical Field
This document relates to methods and materials involved in detecting contaminated food products. For example, this document relates to methods and materials involved in using an enzymatic amplification cascade of restriction endonucleases to detect nucleic acid of a microorganism or virus (e.g., a pathogen) within a sample (e.g., food product sample) being tested, thereby assessing a food product for possible contamination.
2. Background
The presence of pathogens in food products represents a risk to public health and safety. For example, food products contaminated with pathogens, if consumed, can lead to sickness and in some cases death. Thus, many food manufacturers, producers, processers, and suppliers invest substantial resources toward proper sampling and testing techniques to help ensure that food products are safe for consumption.